Exploring Poverty Reduction Game Changers with VC Canada Members: Income and Employment

Help make this innovative approach work! Ideas and suggestions from Cities Reducing Poverty members and broader learners of the Vibrant Communities Canada network are critical to developing a solid foundation in which to identify key levers that have large impacts on poverty reduction.

This Game Changer encompasses Income security through employment and non-employment sources, and readiness for, access to, and retention of secure, livable wage jobs, where employer policies support employees’ needs.

Economic security remains the primary factor in ensuring that individuals and families are able to meet basic needs and build assets. It secures one’s capacity to afford necessities, including housing, food, transportation and childcare. Self-sufficiency through secure employment income is tied to the availability and accessibility of quality work, supports to access employment, job security, positive working conditions, and reliability of hours. Access to non-employment income, including social assistance, employment insurance, and disability supports, is essential for those who are not tied, either temporarily or permanently, to the job market, including people living with disabilities or medical conditions, seniors, and mothers of very young children. Increased workforce participation supports productivity, stimulates economic activity, and decreases costs spent on social programs.